The Canadian Home Care Association has released a study that found that while most provinces have emphasized the need to step up funding for care provided outside of hospitals, none have followed through on their verbal commitments.

The Portraits of Home Care report calculated the average amount per capita spent on health care based on budgets from all 10 provinces and three territories. The association found that of the $3,957 spent on each person in 2010, only $159 or four per cent was earmarked for home care.

Those levels have remained fairly stable over the past five years,

Windsor Regional Hospital officials say current wage freezes for senior hospital staff aren’t nearly enough to head off a possible “major problem” for health care in Ontario, intimating the practice may be doing more harm than good.

“None of the three parties have a ‘real’ plan to address this issue given the reality we are facing now . . . I

t. A freeze for everyone in the public sector will only ‘freeze’ this problem. With the first $10 billion in annual provincial revenue (10% of its revenue) going just to pay the interest on this debt we need something more dramatic than a freeze now.

Bruyère Continuing Care, which includes the Élisabeth Bruyère Hospital, has eliminated 140 positions that could lead to 87 people losing their jobs, the organization has announced.

In a news release, Bruyère said it would implement a two-year plan to save $4.2-million —

$3 million in the clinical area and $1.2 million in administration and support.

This can lead to settlements like the recent one in Scugog, which gave first-class firefighters a 26.7 per cent pay hike, bringing their salary to $80,440 — higher than their Toronto counterparts, who earn $78,741.

But for Scugog councillors, the award — which firefighters say is catch-up and merely brings the town of 21,500 in line with similar-sized municipalities — is not good news.

Police, fire and paramedic salaries make up a huge portion of all municipal budgets, says Hulton. “That’s a lot of taxpayer dollars. And if you can’t reach an agreement (in contract talks) and you’re handing it to an arbitrator — that’s a big chunk of taxpayer dollars, and you need to have faith in a system.”

Usually, an ALS diagnosis is considered a death sentence.

His insurance company, which had been paying for round-the-clock home care, is cutting him off. Now he worries he will be forced to move back to hospital to die.

With an aging population, the Ontario government has made a push to move the elderly out of hospitals and ICUs and into the home, though the shift to home-care has not been without difficulties. Cases of families that fall through the cracks, like this one, are not uncommon.

When the "For Sale" sign went up at the former Cornwall General Hospital late last year, it sparked a community movement to make use of the building "for the common good and social benefit of the area" -- with a particular emphasis on seniors. That has become Mark MacDonald's mantra, shaping the proposal the Concerned Citizens Coalition submitted to the hospital board last month.

It was a common theme heard at the community meetings the coalition has hosted to finalize their offer to purchase the hospital site -- for $1, with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care chipping in the rest of the $2 million price tag ... if the ministry agrees. The fit seemed perfect at first, with the Second Street site hosting 32 assess and restore beds, run by St. Joseph's Continuing Care Centre. These beds have now been wound down, with occupants placed into long-term care if needed, or back at home.

The program has been replaced by Home First, established to help seniors recover at home.

Those keeping track estimate that by 2030 it will nearly double from 4,600 people aged 75 and over to 8,000. Those working in long-term care see the pressure coming. "I think there's a need for more beds across the province," said Norm Quenneville, administrator of Glen-Stor-Dun Lodge. "Cornwall is certainly an area that would benefit."

And yet, the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) is confident no new long-term care beds are needed

In the 2012 auditor general's report, the Champlain region was listed as having the longest median wait times, with 90% of people being placed within 1,100 days.

His insurance company, which had been paying for round-the-clock home care, is cutting him off. Now he worries he will be forced to move back to hospital to die.

With an aging population, the Ontario government has made a push to move the elderly out of hospitals and Intensive Care Units and into the home, though the shift to home care has not been without its difficulties.

George Unger of Fort Erie, Ont., had been living with ALS for two years when he developed breathing problems last November. He was given a tracheotomy and put on a ventilator.

he regional health authority has surprised The Scarborough Hospital by voting down plans to split complex and day surgeries between campuses and move all births to the Birchmount site, ordering the hospital to continue talks with physicians and the public.

to immediately investigate ways it can share services with Rouge Valley Health Services, which runs Scarborough's other hospital site, Centenary.

The decisions leave The Scarborough Hospital's $15.7-million budget shortfall unresolved, and every month of delay costs the hospital $1.3 million more, said TSH vice president Marla Fryers

The story suggested that reducing C. difficile rates was a matter of tackling one or two issues, such as de-cluttering and housekeeping. If the problem were that simple, TOH would have resolved the issue months ago

Over the past four years, we have seen a three-fold increase in the number of patients who already have C. difficile when they are admitted to TOH

At a time when most of the patients should have been settling for the night, there was much loud laughing and talking, I presumed at the nurses' station. No one was visible in the hall and when I had to ring the bell to tell them the patient in the other bed, who was on oxygen and a catheter, was trying to get out of bed there was no response. I had to go to the door where a Loyalist student nurse saw me and responded and got attention for the other patient. During the day the staffing was adequate and good.

I understand as one of the cost-cutting measures they are laying off maintenance staff; this when they cannot now keep halls free of debris and no real cleaning is being done

The condition of the medical floor is deplorable. It is literally crumbling. Does that mean it is next for expensive upgrades?

There was a deadline of April 1, 2013 for the home and community care sector. On March 14th a letter was sent out informing employers that this deadline was no more

There was never any registration deadline for PSWs working in other health care sectors.

Naomi D'Souza was the head of the Wexford Family Council for three years. Documents obtained by "W5" show that the nursing home's management tried to push her out by campaigning against her re-election, a violation of the Long-Term Care Home Act. Naomi knew the victims and she got to know the alleged attacker, Peter Brooks. She said he did get angry, but never saw him act violently.

I was afraid of his temper. I didn't want him if he, if there was misguided anger taken out on my mother. And they would all sit and watch TV together until there was an interaction between him and Lourdes, that Lourdes was afraid to go and sit at the TV.

Yes. She was very afraid of him. He was on the, on the fifth floor and he was moved to the second floor. That's where my mother and Lourdes were. And then because of complaints of different people, he was then moved to the third floor where Joycelyn was.

Windsor has already seen the closure of two hospitals with the promise of enhanced community services which never materialized. In fact, there was a marked deterioration in community support services.

A third hospital is now nearly gone and a new smaller mega hospital lurks in the wings. The goal of the hospital business is to have less legal liability, fewer employees and benefits, fewer pensions and maybe fewer clients.

Hospitals will shrink and "hospital in the home" is the newest catch all phrase. Loss of hospital beds and services are sugar-coated for the public with the elusive promise of enhanced community services.

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areas and perform a thorough cleaning.

The hospital also recently deployed SWAT teams which go into

Nine nurses working in the Montreal General Hospital's 12th-floor trauma and orthopedics ward have been laid off under a sweeping plan to slash $50 million in spending at the McGill University Health Centre.

On Monday, Normand Rinfret, executive director of the MUHC, sent an internal email to staff informing them that the hospital network has come up with 287 measures to cut spending.

The MUHC was compelled to make the cuts after provincial auditors concluded in December that the hospital network was facing a "realistic" projected deficit of $115 million - greater than the shortfalls of all other Montreal hospitals combined.

Unfortunately the story fails to explain that, despite the upcoming changes, Frontenac Paramedic Services will continue to deliver effective emergency services and meet established Response Time Standards

The transition of four full-time paramedics to part-time positions will not result in the layoffs of part-time paramedics. Staff hours will be affected, but no paramedics will become unemployed because of these changes.

PSEU Local 462, the bargaining agent representing paramedics, was clear that it would not accept this cost-containment strategy even though it was within the parameters of the collective agreement

Setting out to find ways to incorporate local food into hospitals and long-term care facilities was a noble pursuit for University of Guelph researcher Paulette Padanyi and her team.

the team's vision for a 20 per cent increase in local food in institutional care facilities

But while all this sounds great, when it comes to hospitals and institutions, a new level of business propriety must take hold. There's no end-of-the-lane sales. No late deliveries allowed. No excuses - even reasonable ones - such as the truck broke down, or we had a crop failure. A deal with a hospital entails people having to eat local food, rather than making it some personal choice.

“If we don’t do something soon, we’re on the edge of returning to an age where people are going to die from what are really routine infections,” said Dr. Doug Weir

Outbreaks of resistant bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, have become common in health-care institutions across the country, particularly among older patients or those with weakened immune systems. Estimates suggest as many as 12,000 Canadians die from these hospital-acquired infections each year while hundreds of thousands fall ill as a result.

Antibiotic resistance means that those patients are increasingly being treated with less-common antibiotics that may cause more side effects or require longer, more complicated treatment.

There are indications the province especially wants to keep expanding health care facilities, but the province’s ability to finance such work is under a cloud. This presents a strong argument for embracing public-private partnerships plus other alternative financing possibilities.

Ontario’s “real” (i.e., inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2012 will probably be recorded as close to +1.5% when the number is finally posted by Statistics Canada. That will be a little down from 2011’s +1.8%.

The 2013 growth rate is likely to be almost a repeat of last year, which will bring it level with the national average. Many forecasters are revising the total Canada outlook to show a decline from +1.8% in 2012 to +1.5% in 2013.